studio 60 and sports night – so stick around
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I have no idea what it is but Studio 60 makes me wanna cry. No, not because it’s horrible nor is it because I’m a total wuss. I’ll also deny any claims of being a nerd-head mushy chick. The point is, there’s only one other show that has ever made me feel like this before and that’s Sports Night.
I blogged about Sports Night before [miss604], looking back at the post, it was almost exactly a year ago that John’s DVD collection merged with mine, including his entire box set for the show.
Both series are the brainchild of creator and writer Aaron Sorkin [imdb], who is also responsible for The West Wing. I have never watched the latter but I can fully atest to Sorkin’s powerful quick-witted writing prowess in the other two.
If you’ve ever watched Sports Night (a show that was canceled mid-season, which completely left us without any kind of closure), and are now watching Studio 60 (with “Chandler” who hasn’t been this attractive since the mid 90s on Friends), you can spot the similarities.
They are both shows within a show – about the writers, producers, backstage and behind the scenes. You laugh, feel embarrassed for the characters, like some, despise others, and your heart strings get a good tug. Harriet and Matt are the new Dana and Casey.
Although Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is one of two shows about late-night sketch comedy programs out this season, it’s on a different playing field. 30 Rock, the other show, is funny but it’s more of a fluffy-goofy comedy. I enjoy Tina Fey‘s writing although it can be a little dry, and Tracy Morgan definitely provides most of the comic relief – the kind that makes you snort things out your nose.
60 on the other hand has that quick wit along with intelligent writing, a mature cast and that fast paced walking n’ talking that seems to be the cool thing to do these days on prime time TV. This is exactly what we saw in the Emmy Award winning Sports Night, which couldn’t last 3 seasons. Could this be why people are saying 60’s popularity won’t last? It’s just too good for its own good?
We’re seriously not trying to be couch potatoes this Fall but with shows like this, hockey, and the wallop that Heroes packs, I’m more incline to stay indoors on rainy nights and catch up on missed episodes. We’re going to keep tuning in to see how things pan out, but several weeks into the season and the line ups are impressive. Now if only Rescue Me season 4 was starting, I’d be a complete emotional roller coaster (even more so than normal).
11 Comments — Comments Are Closed
Major nerd moment:
The “walkin’ and talkin'” thing? Sorkin writes it all the time. Fans call it “pedecoferencing.”
Sorkin also wrote the play/movie “A Few Good Men” (among others). The man is a writing machine, and a good one at that.
wowsa, you’re right and I guess there is a word for everything :p
I saw the first couple of episodes of this show – and I like it! It’s mature and witty, and while I see shades of Chandler in Matthew Perry’s character, it’s like watching Chandler all grown up, ya know?
The only unfortunate thing is that it’s in the same time slot as Without A Trace on Sundays and CSI Miami on Mondays. (Though after a few lousy episodes this season, I might ditch CSI Miami.)
CSI
CarusoMiami *shudder*I don’t mind Without a Trace, John’s not a fan though. I really don’t know what time slots all these shows are in – he’s got me watching things on a tape delay via his laptop :p Widescreen, no commercials, at our leisure so we have time to do things like… record a podcast :p I’m spoiled.
I was a total West Wing junky and am now addicted to Studio 60. The walking and talking thing gets me every time.
There is something very appealing about Studio 60, and maybe that is its likeness to Sports Night. The episode this week with the old man was very much like an episode of Sports Night where a homeless man got into the building in the middle of winter.
I guess when something works once, you try it again with some slight variations.
It seems that the end is near according to this story from FoxNews.
I haven’t seen Studio 60 but I was a HUGE fan of Sports Night… one of the most underrated shows ever…. one that I miss a ton!
[…] Rebecca already made a post about this the other day, but “Studio 60 on Sunset Strip”[imdb] is something we’ve been enjoying quite a bit. It’s another Aaron Sorkin creation that is probably too good for this era of over hype and the need for instant success. I was never impressed with the commercials that I saw for it, but someone said that if I loved Sports Night[imdb], which I do, then I would dig Studio 60. […]
studio 60 rules. i love it. abc made the comment he was not sure if i’d like it or hate as i was a P.A at the time it started but i seriously laughed my ass off at how accurate the show is with the ‘behind the scenes’ to a point of course.
Is this because I haven’t been writing TV show blogs on my site?! You’re such a geek. I’ll try and get caught up this weekend. If not, there’s a long weekend coming up next week.